Barclays Upgrades UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) to Equal Weight

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) was upgraded by analysts at Barclays from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of UBS Group in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of UBS Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of UBS Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered UBS Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.30.

UBS Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UBS opened at $43.75 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63. The stock has a market cap of $136.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.16. UBS Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.40 and a fifty-two week high of $49.36.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $12.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. UBS Group had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. Analysts expect that UBS Group will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of UBS Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of UBS Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 139,105,725 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,423,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,758,287 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of UBS Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,889,413,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in UBS Group by 21.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 77,353,590 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,171,497,000 after purchasing an additional 13,417,945 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in UBS Group by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 64,107,264 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,968,807,000 after purchasing an additional 2,938,827 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in UBS Group by 254.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 63,671,310 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,601,589,000 after purchasing an additional 45,731,061 shares during the last quarter.

About UBS Group

UBS Group AG is a Swiss multinational financial services firm that provides a broad range of banking and capital markets services to private, institutional and corporate clients. Headquartered in Zurich, UBS operates as a universal bank with a primary focus on wealth management, asset management, investment banking and retail and commercial banking in Switzerland. The firm serves high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, pension funds, corporations and institutional investors through a global network of offices.

Key business activities include global wealth management—offering financial planning, investment advisory, discretionary portfolio management and custody services—alongside asset management products for institutional and retail investors.